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View SlideshowRequest to buy this photoAl Tielemans | Sports IllustratedJoe Kelly, St. Louis’ starter in Game 1, pitches in the first inning. Kelly gave up two earned runs to Los Angeles in six innings.

ST. LOUIS — In the champagne-spray delirium of the victorious Los Angeles clubhouse beneath
Dodger Stadium on Monday night, there came a quiet, white-haired visitor. It was Sandy Koufax, and
he was there to hug the neck of the best pitcher on the planet.

Clayton Kershaw shares with Koufax a uniform, left-handedness and a minuscule career ERA —
Koufax’s (2.76) being the lowest of any lefty in the past 75 years, and Kershaw’s (2.60) the lowest
of any active starting pitcher with at least 1,000 innings pitched.

Koufax earned three Cy Young Awards; Kershaw is expected to win his second next month.

But this month, Kershaw, 25, is trying to close the gap between himself and his forefather in
one important regard in which they are still far apart: October glory. Koufax helped the Dodgers
win three World Series titles, amassing a 0.95 ERA in eight appearances. Kershaw has yet to make it
to one.

This National League championship series between the Dodgers and the St. Louis Cardinals brings
together two of the most-storied franchises in the league. They have between them 36 World Series
appearances (18 apiece).

And this fall, in both Los Angeles and St. Louis, fans have been treated to pitching
performances worthy of those rich traditions. Kershaw struck out 12 Atlanta Braves over seven
innings in a victory in Game 1 of the Division Series, then came back four days later — on three
days’ rest — and gave the Dodgers six strong innings in their clinching victory in Game 4.

For St. Louis, staff ace Adam Wainwright delivered a pair of gems to beat the Pittsburgh
Pirates, and 22-year-old phenom Michael Wacha carried a no-hitter into the eighth inning of Game
4.

Tonight’s Game 2 features an intriguing Kershaw-Wacha matchup. After a travel day on Sunday,
Wainwright will start for the Cardinals on Monday night at Dodger Stadium.

In Los Angeles, Koufax is the standard by which any great pitcher is compared. In St. Louis, the
standard is Bob Gibson. They were brilliant in every month, but their legends were cemented in
October, back in the days when the postseason consisted of just one round: the World Series.
Between 1963 and 1968, either Koufax’s Dodgers or Gibson’s Cardinals were the NL representative in
six straight World Series.

In 1965, Koufax famously started Games 2, 5 and 7 of the World Series — the latter starts coming
on three days’ and two days’ rest, respectively — going the distance for shutouts in Games 5 and 7
against Minnesota in one of the greatest postseason pitching performances in history. Two years
later, Gibson started Games 1, 4 and 7 for the Cardinals — the latter two on three days’ rest — and
earned complete-game victories.

These days, of course, such a thing is unheard of. It was a major news development when the
Dodgers moved Kershaw up by one day to start Game 4 of the NL division series on three days’
rest.

Kershaw allowed a pair of unearned runs in six innings against the Braves, and he stood to take
the loss had the Dodgers not rallied.

But when Kershaw completes the first inning of his first NLCS start, he will have passed the
250-inning mark for this season. (Koufax threw a staggering 3592/3 innings in 1965, at the age of
29, and lasted only one more season.)